Over a million people were left without power statewide earlier this month, after a strong windstorm swept across Michigan. Now, the state is asking utilities to file reports on how they responded to the outages. Continue reading →

Michigan utilities have met a target of generating one-tenth of the state’s electricity using wind, solar, and other renewable resources. There’s a new goal, but that could be challenged this year in the Legislature.Continue reading →

Steve Tunnicliff is the Associate Superintendent at the Genesee Intermediate School District. He said parents in the Genesee area can reach out to the school district to get connected with testing and other resources.

“One of the messages and the whole concept of ‘don’t wait, evaluate’ is there may not be any concerns, there may not be any problems, there may not be any delays. The purpose is to find that out now and if there are any concerns or delays to make sure we’re connecting families and providing the right resources.”

Tunnicliff said the goal is to make sure parents know that services are available.

Cleveland’s own Charles Brush created the world’s first electric wind turbine in the 1800’s. He used it to power his home. And since then, wind turbines have popped up all over the world — but never in the Great Lakes.Continue reading →

The U.P. was previously served by two Wisconsin based companies. State officials say the new agreement will replace those entities with the Upper Michigan Energy Resources Corporation.Continue reading →

The Michigan Public Service Commission says utilities are seeing attacks daily, from domestic and international sources. Now the state is creating rules to protect Michigan’s utilities from cyber-attacks.

The Lansing Board of Water and Light announced this month they paid a ransom of 25-thousand dollars to unlock their own communication system from a cyber-attack that occured in April. Continue reading →

The Department of Environmental Quality approved supports for those four spots, but delayed action on 18 others that Enbridge requested.

Environmental groups said they’re hopeful this means the government is getting serious about a line shutdown.

But Michael Barnes, a spokesperson for Enbridge, said that’s not how he sees it.

“We think that we’re all working towards the same thing and that’s to protect the straits and keep energy flowing into Michigan.”

Officials with the DEQ said they will delay a decision on the 18 additional supports until two studies on the risks of the pipeline and alternative ways for transporting the oil are completed. Results of those studies are expected early next year.

On the Atwater Farm, a commercial dairy farm near Lake Ontario, the sound of diesel trucks thunders through the air as they bring in loads of harvested corn for cow feed.

Susan Atwater and her husband Ben are the sixth generation to run this farm. It’s been around since the mid-1800s and is one of the oldest in New York State.

It hasn’t been easy making it in the dairy business. With the summer drought, this year been has been a particular challenge. Now, the Atwaters are turning to the wind for financial help.

“I have all these tractors and tractor trailers to harvest the corn, our monthly cost of diesel is well into the six digits on a harvest season,”Susan Atwater said. “If I can help that with a supplement from a consistent energy producing wind turbine, it’s going to be huge for our business.”

They’re one of several local land owners who signed leases with Apex Clean Energy. The Virginia-based company plans to install 71 wind turbines, generating enough energy to power 53,000 homes.

Apex has nearly a dozen projects planned for communities in the Great Lakes region, including four in Ohio, one in Michigan and four in New York.

This particular project, which stretches 12 miles through the towns of Somerset and Yates, has been met with both fierce support and intense opposition.

“The shores of Lake Ontario is not the place for industrial wind energy period,” said Town Supervisor Dan Engert.

He’s frustrated, and says the town’s right to site the project has been stripped away by state law.

“How would you feel if you had no say? If the state came in and told you,” he said. “They’re not just going to put up a building. We’re not going to just have something that impacts one part of your town or your city we’re going to completely litter your entire town from one end to the other with these industrialized structures.

“How would you feel?”

Article 10 of the Power NY Act gives the task of siting the project to a board. It’s staffed with five state representatives and two community members.

The state says leaving siting decisions up to the board offers a streamlined process for permitting power plants greater than 25 megawatts. The state plans to expand its infrastructure — to generate 50 percent renewable energy by 2030.

The Great Lakes is a prime area for harvesting wind energy and developers are taking advantage of that. A U.S. Geological Survey map shows more than 500 wind turbines forming clusters along the Great Lakes Watershed.

Apex representative Dan Fitzgerald says the fresh water source is an open resource for energy.

“The lake area provides more open resource for us,” he said, adding that “there’s no back stop there’s no hills behind it.”

“There’s almost a drawing effect of the lake that actually accelerates the wind and gives us a better wind resource. So by locating a wind project near the better wind areas, which in this case are certain portions near Lake Ontario, we’ll have a more productive project.”